When Darkness Falls

"Sunny, it's time to wake up", Celestia said while nudging me awake. "We're here" I raised my head up and rubbed my eyes trying to remove the remnants of the nap I had just taken. I looked and saw that the chariot we were riding in had finally reached its destination, The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, my new home. As we began our decent, Celestia and Luna gave me a brief tour: "After the front gate you have the main strip that runs all the way to the castle gates, it mostly consists of shops and inns. In the center of the kingdom is a monument of Luna and I, representing the end of Discord's ruling." "There are some houses here and there along the main strip but not many, the majority of the houses are located off the main strip behind the shops on both sides. There's a whole portion of the kingdom with its own courtyard, that's the Barracks where you will undergo your training." "And this is the Castle", Celestia said ending their description of the kingdom. The Castle looked more stunning than I ever thought possible, even more so than the portraits in the old history books I read. Before we landed Celestia and Luna invited me if I wanted to stay my first night at the Castle, which I obviously accepted with excitement.

When we land at the front door of the Castle, we are then greeted by a member of the Guard. "Welcome back, your majesties", he said. "Good to be back", Luna said. The guard then looked at me as I began to speak: "Good Morning, Sir" "Likewise", he replied. We then walked up the front steps and entered in the main hall, where tall stone pillars lined up the sides of the room which also had large sets of windows on both sides. "How long has this been here?", I asked still astonished at how amazing the Castle looked. "The kingdom itself was built when all species of ponies settled in the same area together for the first time. This had all taken place soon after Discord's reign was brought to an end and we became the rulers of Equestria.", Celestia explained. "Discord...", I began to say as hearing that reminded me of something from my studies. "...isn't he that draconequus thing that ruled the land for so long?" Luna and Celestia traded looks and then back at me, their faces expressing their surprise. "Sounds like you did your homework. Where did you learn that?", Luna finally asked. "Well, after that night we met at the banquet I started reading more than I usually would. Mostly about the Royal Guard, there wasn't very much information about either of you. One of the only things I can recall, is that you two stopped Discord using something called the...Elements of Harmony, I think?" "You did a lot of homework apparently.", Celestia said referring to what Luna had just said before. "Thank you, your majesty.", I replied. "Please, call me Celestia." "And I Luna.", they both said. "I'll work on that, ma'am", I responded to both of them. They both smiled happily and we continued on through the castle. The castle was constructed where the individual parts of the castle which included the main hall, the dining area, and the throne room which also led to the resting quarters; they were connected by tunneled staircases. Luna then explained to me the layout of the castle: "The tunnel in back leads up to the living area. The tunnel to the right leads to the dining room and kitchen, and then there's another tunnel from there that leads to the living area as well." "Follow me", Celestia said. We entered through the tunnel in the back of the main hall which led to the throne room and personal quarters. "This is the throne room. Follow me to the left.", Celesita said. We went through a doorway that was an immediate left from the throne area and Celestia proceeded to tell me about the rooms. "Down the left leads to my room and if you go the right you'll come to Luna's room, you'll be staying in the guest room just before you reach Luna's" "I'll show you to your room, come with me", Luna said. I followed her down the hall to the room that Celestia said was mine. As we entered I immediately became astonished at the size and how well the rooms decor was. "This...is...wow...just wow." "I take it you like it?", Luna asked jokingly. "Like it? This is awesome!" I ran and started jumping up and down on the bed, about as excited as I could be. Luna began laughing as she watched me jump up and down, "Be careful, Sunny. Don't hurt yourself." I then reached down and pulled her up on the bed too and she soon started jumping as well, laughing the whole time I was. "Having fun?" We quickly stopped and looked to see Celestia standing in the doorway laughing to herself. We jumped down with embarrassment. "Sorry, sister.", Luna said. "We were just having a little fun.", I added innocently. "Why theres nothing wrong with that is there? It was good to see that Luna still knew how to have fun after all these years.", she said still laughing a little.

We spent the whole rest of the day just talking. About friends, important events in each of our lives, both good and bad times. I didn't have much bad memories to share, but Celestia and Luna did. They told me about when they were very young as far back as they could remember, their family as well. They told me of the tragedy of what happened to the Crystal Empire, how a unicorn named Sombra had enslaved the crystal ponies. The rulers of the empire were able to escape and seek help from Celestia and Luna. They vanished Sombra but he was able to place a curse upon the empire, causing it to completely disappear. The rulers were some of Celestia and Luna's relatives, there up in age so there isn't much they can do if Sombra ever came back. They all hope that they would have a child soon, so that their line would continue and there would be somepony that could rule the Crystal Empire if it reappeared. They also went on to tell me about the war with Discord, how he embodied disharmony which is where his name and capabilities come from. The Alicorns tried their best to stop Discord but ultimately failed. From there they went on to tell me about their parents. They worked for the King of the Alicorns. All Alicorns lived on floating islands, usually most were only big enough to fit one household. But the Kingdom itself was very large, large enough to hold houses, inns, shops and a castle. When the Alicorns went to war with Discord, he wiped them all out, and it caused the islands to fall from the sky. All except for the kingdom, which remained afloat above cloud level. The location of the Lost Kingdom has been long since lost, no pony knows where it is located now. Spending all that time, just talking and reflecting on our lives was what really made us bond. That was the night when our friendship truly began. I do not know to this day if it was because we were all in our own way, lonely, or that we just didn't have as many friends as most ponies. Whatever the reason, if it wasn't for that night...well I may not even be alive today, so to speak...

Later on that evening we had all sit down to have dinner. We had literally almost talked the whole day away and soon enough we had run out of stuff to talk about. Tomorrow I was going to start training, and that also meant living in the Barracks full time. I had went to bed that night with an almost untold amount of anticipation. Big surprise...my first day of training wound up being one of the most roughest days of my life.

"Are you nervous?", Luna asked as we were making our way to the Barracks. "Nothing I can't handle", I replied. But unfortunately that wasn't the truth, I felt more nervous than I did the day before when I had entered City Hall for the banquet. "We are going to warn you...", Celestia began. "...you will be the youngest trainee here. Normally you have to be at the age of 13 or better to begin, but both Luna and I as well as some help from Cyrus have secured you a spot." "Does he want to get me in that bad?", I asked still wondering why he agreed with Celestia and Luna about offering me the opportunity to start at my young age. "Cyrus has always had a way of telling when somepony has the determination and will it takes to make it in the Royal Guard.", Luna replied, "He has been known to completely overlook ponies twice your age that had tremendous skill, but lacked the drive to reach their full potential. But that night he saw something in you, to him he saw that you not only had the skills but that you also had more determination than a lot of full grown adults he has meet." "Is he going to be teaching me?", I asked anxiously. "We're not sure who will be teaching, but you have to be ready for whoever and whatever may happen.", Celestia said. I looked ahead with more confidence than I had before and said, "Don't worry, I'll be ready for anything."

Just a couple of hours before it reached mid-day we had arrived. I stood there watching the front door, dawning mixed emotions of fear and dread. "Good luck, Sunny", Luna said wishing me the best along with Celestia. "You can do this, all of us know you can." I took a few deep breaths before eventually trotting inside. I opened the door and began walking down the hall looking for the room that I was to wait in with the older new recruits. When I had found the room, I entered without hesitation or second thought. The room itself all at once went silent and they all simultaneously turned their eyes on me, in shock that a mere filly was going to be training along side them. I slowly trotted around the room grabbing the first empty seat I could find, all while still being stared at. No longer that I had taken my seat, we all heard: "ATTENTION!" We all immediately leaped out of our seats and stood in a single file line, keeping our eyes looking forward. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Cyrus entering the room. "Alright, listen up! I am Captain Cyrus, some of you may have heard of me and some of you haven't. For those of you that have been living under a rock, I'm the head honcho of the Guard as some of you young ponies like to say. I oversee all Guard activity in Equestria, that means no guard can even say they're hungry unless I say so. Your training begins today...over the next 4-6 years you are going to be pushed to limits you never even imagined possible and your psych will be tested to the point that some of you WILL not come out of this the same way as you came in." Cyrus then called upon the Pegasus trainer: "Sergeant Reap!" In came another guard, one that struck me as somepony that I had seen somewhere before. "Sir!", he said marching in. "This is Sergeant Reap, he will be training all of you goose-necked pegasi. Takeover, Reap!" "Sir, yes, Sir!", Reap said as Cyrus left the room not saying anything else.

"Alright ladies, listen up and listen good, 'cause I'm saying this just once. This is going to be the most longest 4-6 years of your lives IF you even make it that far. Some of you may wind up in the Royal Guard, some of you are going to walk away hanging your head with shame and so---", he suddenly went silent in mid-sentence and locked eyes with me, looking as if his face was red and steam coming out of his ears. "YOU!!", he snaps. All at once it suddenly came to me exactly who this pegasus was...this was the guard who led the chase after me at City Hall! "WHAT IN THE HAY ARE YOU DOING HERE?!", he demanded I answer. I quickly responded with a smart attitude, thinking 'this is going to be a long day': "Uh, training to be a Royal Guard? Duh." Reap then exploded with laughter, before finally saying: "You? In the Guard? Please, you'll never even be good enough to polish my breastplate!" This remark suddenly made me flair with anger, causing me to scream in his face. "AT LEAST I DIDN'T GET OUTSMARTED BY SOMPONY A THIRD OF MY AGE, MR. BIG SHOT!!!" Just as those words left my mouth, Reap yells back in my face: "IF YOU WEREN'T JUST A FILLY, I'D RIP OUT YOUR GUTS AND USE THEM TO CLEAN MY ARMOR!" "STAND DOWN, REAP!" Everypony in the room, including myself and Reap all quickly stood at attention...Cyrus had come back in the room. "Whats your problem, Sergeant?" "Sir, this is no place for a little pony to be. And he is also disrespectful." "First off Sergeant, what you just said was nothing that should have been said to a filly! Second, as I overheard the both of you, he was giving disrespect where disrespect was due! And finally, he was hoof-picked by none other than myself and the Princesses. So if you want to complain to us about how big of a mistake you think this is, then go right ahead, its your flank on the line. But if there's nothing else, SHUT THE HAY UP AND DO YOUR JOB, SERGEANT!!!" "Sir, yes, sir." As Cyrus turned to leave the room, he gave me a reassuring look. I felt a little better knowing that what I did at the banquet wasn't going to carry weight against me here. Reap then took a moment to re-compose himself, "As I was saying....some of you will walk away with shame and some of you will mentally break under the strain. It doesn't matter which you are, until your departure comes, you belong to me. You will not laugh and you will not cry, your in Guard Training, not some Basic-Self-Defense class you low down feedbags! Do I make myself clear?!" "Sir, yes, Sir", we all said simultaneously. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!", he screamed. "SIR, YES, SIR!"

We were then all led out back to the work grounds. The work area was complete with a round track for running, padded areas for push-ups and sit-ups, and a small arena for practicing close-quarters combat. In the air up above, there were cloud rings scattered out in an obstacle course. "On your faces, maggots!", Reap suddenly commanded. We all dropped down to the push-up position ready to put forth our best efforts. "Lets see what you all can do, begin.", Reap commanded. Most of the time Reap kept his eyes focused on me, just hoping that he would find a reason to say that I couldn't physically handle it. The oldest out of us all was close to 16-years-old. I wasn't but only 9, everypony else was twice my size easily. A 14-year-old was the one who did the most push-ups that first day, marking up 57. I didn't have but 46, but the pony with the lowest push-ups was 37. From there we did some running to keep the muscles strong in case we were in a position where we couldn't fly. We were required to run at full speed for as long as we could keep it up. Longest time clocked was close to 7 minutes with the shortest time at full speed being almost 4 1/2 minutes. My time clocked in that first day was just under the line of 6 minutes. I could tell that Reap was disappointed that he hadn't yet found a good reason to get rid of me yet, but at the same time it seemed he knew that I was here to be in the Guard and not to just mess around. Finally we came to flying. This part of the exercises required that we flew through all rings for 10 laps as fast as possible. I was the only one here that never took classes at flight school, so you can guess I was somewhat nervous. I was used to flying enough that I could fly through the rings easily, but going fast as possible and making all the hard turns was what was going to get me. The curves and turns in this obstacle course were far worse than the alleyways in Baltimare. The best time was taken by the 16-year-old, he had more flying experience than the lot of us so we weren't surprised for that to happen. The older pegasus clocked in at 24 seconds, with all that flight school training and experience he beat us all. But me, the 9-year-old filly from Baltimare that never went to flight school...had clocked in 2nd place, tailing with 26 seconds....

The days training was finally over. Exhaustion had its firm grip on us all, with some of us even vomiting from it. Today was only an evaluation, the real training would begin tomorrow. We were given the rest of the day to ourselves for rest and relaxation. We were shown to the bunk room, where we then got settled in. Later on that night when I had recovered some energy, I wrote a letter to Celestia and Luna telling them about my first day:

Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,

Today, was very exhausting. This morning when I had walked in, all the other recruits were staring at me. I guess being a 9-year-old taking Guard Training will have that effect. As fate would have it, the guard that is in charge of our training, Sergeant Reap? It turns out that it is the same guard that was chased me through the banquet. Lets just say that things got a little sour when we finally recognized each other. We shared some unpleasant words and gotten angry, but don't worry, Cyrus stepped in and kept it from getting worse. After our little 'confrontation' was over, we went outside and underwent the physical test. We all put forth our best, and we all did really well. I attached a copy of the stats to this letter, I didn't have the best results but I'm more than satisfied with what I had. I wasn't extremely nervous, but I was afraid that I wouldn't have been able to keep up with everypony else. I guess I was wrong. Training was just as much a challenge as I expected, but I'm not going to complain. I'm just happy that I had gotten the chance to be here. Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Sunny Night

Later on that night just before it was lights out, I had gotten a response from Celestia and Luna:

Dear Sunny,

We are very happy to hear that you did very good on your first day. But we are very sorry about what happened with Sergeant Reap. If we would have known he was the instructor, we would have gave him a heads up and told him not to hold what happened against you. Although we are proud of you that you stood your ground against him when you did. We received reports about the days training, including what happened with Reap and what was said. He shouldn't have snapped at you like that and he certainly shouldn't have said something like that to somepony your age but it seems you handled yourself well. We were also impressed with your performance stats. For a filly of your size and age with stats like what we saw? Very impressive. We hope to keep getting good reports like today's and we also hope that we can get together again sometime soon. Until then, be careful, and keep it up.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia & Princess Luna

After our exercises the next day, I sent a letter to Bugs, telling him about life in the Barracks. He couldn't believe that I had gotten into it with Sergeant Reap like I did, but he also agreed that he deserved what was said to him. He asked me about the Kingdom itself was like. I told him that a lot of ponies up here weren't as down to earth as the ponies back in Baltimare. Some days after that whenever I had gotten the chance, I would visit Celestia and Luna to have dinner and stay the night. I had asked them about going with them to the Banquet at Baltimare City Hall every year and bringing Bugs as a guest. They smiled and told me that me and Bugs would be just as much an honored guest as they were. Every year that came I always visited the orphanage on banquet night to see Miss Tangerine, and bring Bugs to the banquet.

Time went on...and my training was coming to an end. Before long...the one test that would determine whether or not I would be in the Royal Guard...was getting closer as the days went by...